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From advances in cybersecurity to the evolution of machine learning, technology continues to change at a rapid clip. For business leaders, it's critical to understand how such changes lead to opportunity (or potential insecurity).

Here, seven leading technology executives from Forbes Technology Council offer their insights into the mostimportant trends of 2016 and how they could impact the way you do business.

More and more startups are focused on creating a standalone microservice that fits within a complicated enterprise architecture (eg. Codeship, Intercom, Slack). This solidarity forges a much better and cheaper product than an internal team building the same. The microservices migration will displace a lot of technology workers, as it will take much fewer people to manage the same amount of tech. – Nicholas Thompson, Grit

2. Software Authenticity

Cybercriminals use fake software and websites on mobile and open source systems to hack into your networks. To stay protected, businesses need to be on top of software authenticity. Cybercriminals are constantly evolving, and fake software is just one of their latest tools taking advantage of open source collaboration, mimicking popular mobile apps to steal personal information. – Neill Feather, SiteLock

3. The Information of Things

Smart devices are also educators that make everything else smarter by unlocking data that's been trapped in our devices all along. The smart home unlocks data about our lifestyles, Waze turns our driving habits into traffic data, personal data teaches us about our health habits and needs. Now, the challenge for startups will be to access and make use of relevant data from these new sources. – Gurpreet Singh, TalkLocal